Citizen Journalism Video: Giving an Unbiased Story
Everyone has their beliefs and opinions. People feel very strongly about their beliefs. Sometimes it can be difficult to write a story as a citizen journalist without making it one sided. They do not want to hear that their beliefs are not correct. They do not wan to acknowledge that others can be right too, even if they do not agree with your point of view.
When writing a story you need to have an open mind. It is fine to give your beliefs and opinions, but you also have to give the other side of the story. If all you do is write an opinion piece without a place for readers to leave comments your writing career will be over before it has begun.
To produce an unbiased piece you will need to put your beliefs and opinions behind you. Gather facts from both sides of the topics. Interview people who are for, and against your topic. This will make the reader feel like you are open to other people’s views. If you are only giving your opinions readers may not come back to view anymore of your work. If you want to develop a following you will need to learn how to write unbiased articles.
Citizen journalism is all about everyone having their chance to speak on what they feel is important. Let’s say you are doing a short film on your town wanting to combine their three elementary schools into one. A person writing a biased story would pick a side and write about why the other side was wrong. Writing an unbiased story means writing about the pros and cons of both sides. What benefits will there be. What problems could arise as a result of the new school. Then you can state which side you are on, and why you feel that way. Next ask your viewers to share how they feel about the subject. This is a perfect example of citizen journalism in the works.
Being unbiased can be hard when you feel very strongly about a subject. You just have to remember as a citizen journalist you have to put your views aside. Telling the story is more important than coming off as an arrogant know it all. Every person deserves to have a voice. Everyone will not agree, it is just human nature. Lets review the steps it takes to write and unbiased script for a citizen journalism-based video.
1. Gather facts and research from all sides of the topic.
2. Interview people who can give both the pros and the cons for your subject.
3. Give the viewers a chance to give their views on the topic.
4. If you give your opinion do not say it is the right one. Remember it is just an opinion.
It might take some practice to learn how to write an unbiased short film. Learning to keep your emotions out of the film can help. Keep writing, filming, directing and editing and you will learn to tell both sides of the story without injecting your opinions throughout. Unbiased film making will keep the viewers coming back.
Photo credit: videohaiku
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